Why We Cant Forget
by GreenCyberWolf
Summary: "Oh my God." Was all that managed to make it out of her mouth before a huge wall of dust surged over everything in its path. People, buildings, cars, they all disappeared." AU so expect OOC/ Dedication fic. No coincidence that this is posted on 9-11
1. Chapter 1

Author's two cents:  
Nine years ago the world was changed. For better or worse? That answer, even now, is left hanging in the air. We as a people are more conscious of the world around us. We no longer can walk around in a blind daze thinking we are untouchable. Terrorism did not suddenly appear on this day but maybe, for some of us, it had dealt a blow far too critical to only be pushed aside as we had done before.

No one who truly experienced this day will ever forget the impact one simple morning gone horribly wrong can have on a person, a city, a country, a world. That one day we watched as humanity sank to its lowest depths and then helping hand by helping hand we watched as humanity overcame the darkness and shined brightly in its truest colors.

I wrote this story not just as a memory to the fallen but also the survivors. The heroes of the day we all talk about and the ones that quietly slipped into the unknown. There is a country artist by the name of Darryl Worley, some years ago he wrote a song titled 'Have You Forgotten?' When I first heard this song I actually had to stop and think about it. Since then I have become increasingly worried that this day will ultimately fall by the wayside. Becoming as trivial a date as December 7, 1941. (How many of ya'll will google this date wondering what I'm talking about?) History will remember this, there is no doubt, but do we really want the only memory of this event to be bastardized in some grade school textbook? Or worse Hollywood film? We as individuals are stewards of our memories, to pass them on to the next generation so that they may not repeat our mistakes and perhaps improve on the future.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything

-  
Why We Can't Forget  
Chapter One  
-

September 10  
8:15 p.m.

"So how is my future son-in-law handling all these preparations?" Came the laughing voice of an older woman from the other end of the line.

"Yeah surly he isn't making you do everything?" Asked another woman's voice that spoke up on the three way call.

Nami sighed and smiled to herself as she looked out the window to the distant New York City skyline, what a tricky question that was. She couldn't possibly say that her sister was right and the idiot had dumped all the complicated planning on her lap. That would just cause her mother to possibly beat her future son-in-law to within an inch of his life. "Well, uh, you guys know Luffy. He doesn't like to think about the complicated things." She laughed nervously as she tucked a strand of her short orange hair behind her ear and closed her eyes, waiting for it.

Both older women on the line sighed in exasperation. "You really found yourself a winner there Nami, he doesn't even care about his own wedding. You could have him dressed in pink for all he knows." Nojiko said to her younger sister and somehow Nami knew she was right. Luffy never did care for the traditional way of things, if it were left up to him he would have dragged Nami to the nearest courthouse and gone straight to the I-Do's.

"You know Nojiko, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea, that'll teach him a lesson to be helpful, once in awhile." Bellemere giggled evilly.

Nami could just see her adopted mother's face, evil little smirk, dark eyes, and pitchfork included. "Bellemere, Nojiko, you guys aren't being fair. Luffy is being very supportive of the whole thing, he just trusts me to make better decisions than he would. Besides you know Luffy didn't grow up around the church, he's probably been twice his entire life. Having a big church wedding is probably making him more nervous than the getting married part is."

"All right Nami, no pink tuxedo for the groom then." Bellemere said with a chuckle then turned her attention to her oldest daughter deciding to finally stop teasing Nami. "So Nojiko, how did your date go the other night?"

Nojiko stopped laughing at the image of Nami's fiancé in a ruffled pink tux and huffed in annoyance. "Date? What date?"

"Oh, right." Nami said into the receiver. Now much more interested in the conversation when it wasn't turned toward her. "It was that cook guy that you met last week. The one with the dorky eyebrow."

XxXxX

Two men were sitting in one of New York City's cleaner bars. A little hole in the wall place but pretty respectable. Both had windblown black hair but one had a spattering of freckles across his nose while the other sported a scar under his left eye. The freckled man was wearing a pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt with NYFD on the front, he was obviously the older of the two. The younger man was dressed in much the same way with a plain pair of blue jeans and a fitted black t-shirt.

The freckled man was laughing loudly at the other. "I can't believe you Luffy. You would push all that onto Nami and think a little housework will balance it out? This is your wedding too man you can't leave it all up to her."

"Yeah but I don't know anything about that stuff. I mean the flowers and colors and table pieces, I would just screw it up." Luffy took a drink from his beer and looked over at his older brother. "It's better if Nami does it and is happy with it."

"Luffy trust me on this, she will be far happier and more sane by the end of this if you put a bit more effort into helping her plan this thing." Ace told the younger man. "Even if it's some small thing that's one less problem your girl has to worry about."

Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment staring down at his bottle. "I suppose your right Ace."

"Course I am." Ace laughed drinking the rest of his Coke and sitting back on the barstool. Looking at his watch the older man knew he would have to call it a night pretty soon. It was harder to have these brother's nights out with Luffy since he had joined the New York City Fire Department. Which was also why he had a soda in front of him instead of a beer. He was supposed to be at the station bright and early the next morning and having a hangover on the job was definitely frowned at.

"So have you talked to Gramps lately?" Luffy asked noticing his brother look at his watch. He finished off his drink and stood up with Ace right behind him. Luffy knew his brother's schedule and while he didn't have to work the next day Ace did. Not to mention Nami would be ticked at him if he stumbled into bed past midnight again.

On his way out the door Ace turned to the barkeeper, an old friend of his by the name of Sabo. "Hey I'll see ya later Sabo and by the way your calendar's wrong, it's 10 September today, not the second." The curly haired blonde man frowned at his long time friend then looked over at his seriously out of date countertop calendar.

With a final wave over his shoulder Ace turned back to the conversation with his brother. "Nope, haven't seen the old man since your birthday party. You know how backed up it gets in his office. With all his meetings and stuff it's amazing he has any time to get caught up with it. Ah wait, you have told him about the wedding right?" Ace asked as a sudden thought came to him and he looked over at a nervous Luffy. "Don't tell me…"

Laughing a bit Luffy hurried out to his brother's car trying to avoid the accusing gaze. "Well I thought maybe you could tell him or he'll find out when he gets the invitation, right?"

XxXxX

September 11  
6:45 a.m.

As usual for this time of day the many halls and offices of the Pentagon were busy with both civilian and military personnel coming and going to their designated work spaces. Air Force, Navy, Marine, and Army uniforms mixed in together with the occasional suit and tie. High ranked officials of all branches were already preparing for their day filled with meetings, paperwork, briefings, paperwork, reviews, and you guessed it- paperwork.

"Vice Admiral, are you paying attention?" One of the Navy's top officer's secretaries asked with a small smile.

The grizzled gray haired old man grunted into his second cup of coffee. "Yeah. Yeah. 9:00 meeting with the other vice admirals and admirals." Garp repeated the last line she had read off his schedule to show that he was indeed listening.

The secretary nodded though she knew the vice admiral couldn't care less. She had long smooth black hair that reached past her shoulders and striking blue eyes that always seemed to give off an air of calm. She had actually heard some people say that she was much too beautiful to be an ordinary secretary for anybody. Robin had to laugh to herself at that. Looking back to the vice admiral she noticed that his gaze was looking down at one of the few photos that were on his desk. She had seen the said picture before, it was the one with both his grandsons and his youngest grandson's soon to be wife. "Luffy called," Robin said deciding to see if the old man was really paying attention to her. He grunted, "they decided to move the wedding date up." A nod was her answer. "They actually decided to elope to Vegas." The blue eyed woman said seriously.

"Good. Good." Garp murmured.

Robin hmm'd before going further. "They wanted to have the wedding before the baby came." She told him hiding her growing smile behind the clip board.

"Well that's…" Garp paused finally registering what his secretary was telling him. "That little ingrate did what!" He was halfway to the door before Robin's light laughter reached his ears. Huffing he plopped down in his chair trying to ignore the still chuckling woman. "Not funny in the slightest, Ms. Nico." Garp scowled.

Now finally having his attention and being able to stop her laughter Robin read off the rest of the vice admiral's daily schedule. He grumbled at the number of briefings with different officers he had. Garp got up from his chair and walked over to refill his cup making it the third coffee he had this morning. Robin frowned down at the photo of Ace, Luffy, and Nami. The happy couple was turned toward each other while the freckle faced young man was leaning against his younger brother's shoulder. "I still don't understand why you're against the marriage Vice Admiral. Nami seems like the perfect match for Luffy." Robin said still looking down at the picture.

Garp huffed returning to his chair. "It's not like I don't want them to get married. I want my grandsons to be happy but those two are moving much too fast. I was engaged to my late wife for two years before we got married that's not counting the five years we dated. How long have they waited, hm?" The Navy officer answered his own question. "Dated for only a year before moving in together. Now after only two years they think they're ready to get married?"

"Not to mention that little brat hasn't even told me about the wedding yet, I have to go and find out from that blasted woman, Dadan." The vice admiral grumbled moodily.

Robin just shrugged she knew by now it was hopeless to try and talk him out of his rant. "Times are changing for these younger people." Was the only thing she could argue with.

XxXxX

7:05 a.m.

"Nami. Nami, wait up." The orange haired young woman turned at her name being called and smiled toward her friend hurrying from the elevator and running to catch up. "Good morning Vivi, late again today?" She asked the blue haired secretary.

Vivi grinned as she caught up to the other woman. "Oh, yeah, I overslept this morning. Hey is that a new blouse?" Vivi asked lighting up at the prospect of any new fashion around the office.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is." Nami grinned looking down at her new shirt. Luffy had bought it so of course it was red, which was his favorite color. It had thin darker red stripes going down that blended in perfectly with the lighter color red. With it she wore a short plain black skirt and regular high heeled shoes. The two women continued to walk down the hall towards their office talking about their latest shopping finds.

Nami couldn't help but smile as they passed the other office workers that occupied the seventy-first floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Her life had really picked up since two years ago when she dumped her loser ex, Paulie. She and Luffy had been best friends since high school but it was only after the whole thing that he finally told her how he felt and well, the rest as they say is history. Her and Luffy were getting married in three months. She had gotten a great job, had her own office, and was looking to be the first twenty-six year old to make office manager in the company's history.

"Well, why don't you two ladies take your time?" A large black haired man frowned as Nami and Vivi walked into the office. Arlong stood outside his office door. His crisp business suit, as always, didn't have a string out of place. His somewhat longish hair was tied back in a neat pony tail and his sharp eyes lingered on the two younger women as they entered his sight.

Vivi frowned worriedly, Arlong always made her nervous, but Nami just smiled. "Geez Arlong, you're so uptight." The older man just frowned.

"You're a smart mouthed woman you know that." Arlong mumbled before turning away. "Where's Kalifa?" He asked louder addressing the other people in the office. The blonde haired woman was usually the first one at work in the morning so it was unusual to not see her.

Nami rolled her eyes. "Kalifa had that doctor's appointment this morning. She won't be in till later. Don't you remember?" Arlong huffed in annoyance whirling around and disappearing into his office. The young orange haired woman shrugged carelessly and made her way through the many desks around the large room towards her smaller office while Vivi broke off from Nami and went to her own desk.

An older pink haired woman grinned and sat back in her chair as Nami passed by. On her desk were a few little pink pig figurines and some pictures. "Don't let that old blowhard get to ya girlie. He's just nervous that you're movin' up so fast."

"Don't worry about me Lola. It'll take more than that grump to scare me off but can't say so much for Vivi." Nami grinned back to her old mentor. Out of everyone Lola had been in this office the longest and she had seen dozens of new people be brought in and pass her up. She had actually been the one to show Nami the ropes when the orange haired girl started this job. The old woman always said that she was happy right where she was though.

XxXxX

Zoro sat in the airport terminal a newspaper opened in front of him. In one hand he had a Starbucks coffee and the other held the paper up. He had gotten up extra early to make sure he wouldn't be late and miss his flight. Even though he traveled through airports a lot for his job, he always managed to get lost in them. Thankfully today he made it and with plenty of time to spare.

He had just started to read up on the sports section when a small voice could be heard in front of him. "Hey mister, mister." Zoro tried to ignore the child hoping she would go somewhere else. There was a slight tug on his pants, no such luck. "Hey miiister." The little girl whined. Growling in annoyance Zoro lowered his paper to see a little blonde haired girl looking right back at him.

She didn't seem to be affected by the scary look on Zoro's face. In her arms she held a blue rabbit. Her hair was pulled back in long pigtails and her wide innocent eyes looked back up at the older man in awe.

"What?" Zoro growled hoping to get rid of the brat.

"Your hair looks weird." She said pointing to Zoro's green topped head. She giggled as he nearly fell off his chair at her statement. "Gonbe thinks so too." She said pointing to the stuffed bunny rabbit.

The green haired man glared down at the child. "Well you shouldn't talk about weird looking hair." Zoro smirked pointing to her pigtails.

The girl's lips poked out in a pout as she frowned up at him. "You're also a mean old man." She told him loudly and then her little foot connected to Zoro's shin.

"Ouch, damn it brat." Zoro bent down to rub the sore spot on his leg then looked up to yell at the annoying kid. She wasn't there anymore. Looking around he saw her running off towards an older heavyset woman who looked to be coming out of the bar area nearby.

"Grandma Kokoro I just met this really funny looking guy!" The little girl called out. Her blue rabbit was being dragged behind her as she ran.

The old woman turned at hearing the child's voice. "Oh Chimney there you are." Her words were slightly slurred and she was a bit unsteady as she grabbed onto the girl's hand and the two disappeared in the crowd.

Zoro sighed. No wonder that brat was so annoying if that was her role model. He couldn't believe the old woman, it wasn't even nine in the morning and she already looked wasted. He didn't even know the bar was open so early.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a woman's voice speak up from over by the entry gate announcing that Flight 93 to San Francisco would begin loading now. Zoro grinned, finally he was going home. He hurriedly grabbed his bag and ticket then walked over to stand in the line that was forming.

A petite, flighty looking pink haired woman was taking tickets. Even in the standard airline uniform her look just screamed goth girl. 'Perona' was the name on her nametag and Zoro chuckled at this, somehow the name seemed to fit. He handed his boarding pass to the young woman and walked onto the plane. He found his seat easily and after stowing his carry on in the overhead compartment he sat back ready to enjoy his flight.

XxXxX

Luffy blinked, the sun streaming in through the windows getting into his eyes. Groaning the young man sat up and rubbed his hand over his face trying to wake up. Last night he and Nami had stayed up late again, not that it wasn't fun, but the black haired young man briefly wondered how his fiancé could still wake up so early in the morning. He looked over at the clock sitting on the nightstand. 8:32, Nami had left for work already. He grinned, luckily working as a freelance photographer meant making your own hours.

Throwing the covers off, Luffy stood up and stumbled into the bathroom for a shower. A few minutes later a clean and more alert Luffy strode out and dressed for the day. This meant a pair of comfortable blue jean shorts and a red t-shirt.

He walked into the kitchen ready to dig up some breakfast. Luffy stopped in front of the fridge and smiled, there was a small yellow post-it note stuck at eye level so he would be sure to see it. Nami must have left it for him this morning before she left. _'Have a good day, Love You'_ was written in her neat handwriting.

His grin turned softer as he reached up to take the note from its spot on the fridge but then he noticed that there was a little arrow in the corner of the paper. Turning it over he saw she had added something else. _'Do the shopping' _Luffy sighed before he chuckled. He would have to be sure to leave her one later. Luffy grinned remembering that it was him who had started this little note passing game in the first place.

He turned on the small kitchen TV and changed the channel finding an interesting talk show to tune in to while he made breakfast. Luffy had just cracked open some eggs over the skillet when the show was interrupted by a news broadcast. Luffy was only half listening to what the news announcer was saying, after all it was New York, it was probably just some accident or something. The black haired young man just kinda tuned it out that is until the words World Trade Center came out of the guy's mouth.

Luffy jerked around looking, for the first time, at the television screen. There was a wide camera shot of the New York skyline and the Twin Towers, only on the screen one of them was billowing huge clouds of smoke. It was Tower 1 if Luffy remembered correctly though from the camera angle it could be Tower 2. The camera zoomed in for a closer shot and he saw a gigantic hole in the side of the building. What the hell could've made that? The scene then changed back to the newsroom and the announcer who was recapping the recent events. "Again, we are getting reports that a plane of unknown origins or size has just crashed into the side of the World Trade Center, Tower 1. Police are asking people to avoid the area for their own safety."

Listening to the man Luffy sighed in relief. Tower 2 hadn't been affected and wasn't being evacuated. Nami was safe over in the South building. The newscaster said they'd keep people updated on what was happening and then the talk show came back on. Probably for the first time in his life Luffy voluntarily switched the channel over to the 24 hour news station, they were also covering the story. Now that he knew Nami was safe Ace came into his mind, would his brother's fire station be sent to handle that?

=O=O=O=

A bit long winded at the beginning wasn't I? I'm not sorry for it. Just something that needs to be brought to people's attention every now and again.

Also since I know some of you are wondering. I decided to make Nami's family religious because simply put, it goes with the story. Also during the Skypia arc Nami was the only one to actually pray to 'god' Enel (before he tried to kill everyone). Sure it was a gag but I take what I can get…

Sorry I never meant to post all this at once but today is just about the only time I'll have access to the internet anywhere close to this date. And it really wouldnt make sense any other time, would it?


	2. Chapter 2

"World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center buildings in New York have a bigger purpose that just to provide rooms for tenants. The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace. Beyond the compelling need to make this a monument to world peace, the World Trade Center should, because of its importance, become a representation of man's belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men, and through cooperation, his ability to find greatness."

~Minoru Yamasaki, chief architect of WTC~

Disclaimer: Not mine

-  
Why We Can't Forget  
Chapter Two  
-

September 11  
8:50 a.m.

"Holy shit." Lola muttered as she stared out the office window at the blaze consuming the opposite building. Well no one ever said she was refined. Beside the veteran secretary stood half the office, the other half was huddled on their phones reassuring family and friends they were ok.

Black smoke poured from the opposite building, flames shooting up into the bright blue sky. Arlong and Nami were standing side by side staring out the window in disbelief. The older man for once in all the time Nami had known him was totally speechless. "Lola, this has happened before right? I mean a plane had crashed into one of the towers before, I remember hearing about it." Nami asked not taking her eyes off the scene before her.

The pink haired woman nodded. "Yeah that's right but it was just a small private plane. From that explosion a bit ago this didn't sound like any small plane like that time." She frowned deeply still looking outside.

Vivi was pacing up and down nervously near the exit. She was on the phone with 911. After a minute she slowly closed her phone and walked over to the group. Nami looked at her friend curiously. "They said we should stay calm and continue on as normal. The operator said we should remain where we are."

Lola grumbled something about incompetent police but Nami nodded quietly finally turning away from the window. "Well if the police say they have things handled and that it's alright, then I guess we'll just have to trust them." The orange haired woman still frowned worriedly though.

Arlong's office phone started ringing and that seemed to finally break the man from his shocked silence. He disappeared into his office for a few minutes then came back out clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "I just got a call from the main office. They told me that the police advised them to keep everyone in a secure spot. They understand if you need to go home to your kids or whatever and they won't take any time off if you leave for the day but if you want to remain here that's alright too."

After his announcement most of the people in the office started to shut down their work stations and leave, some did stay though. Nami briefly thought about Luffy, was he worried about her? He hadn't called her at all this morning. She was about to head to her office and shut down so she could leave as well but just as she was about to turn around Arlong walked past with briefcase in hand.

"Where are you going?" Nami asked frowning at her boss.

Arlong looked over his shoulder at the younger woman. "Hey I got two brothers over in that building, I have to make sure their families are ok." He told her as he walked out the door with a careless shrug and smirk.

"You ever heard of a phone?" Nami muttered as she watched the older man walk away. Guess it didn't matter that those so called brothers worked on the bottom floors and were most likely not even hurt from the explosion. Nami looked around at the seven or eight people still hanging around the office. This included Vivi and Lola. "Well it looks like I'm in charge for now. There's nothing we can do for anyone over there and it's depressing to keep watching it. If we're gonna stick around we might as well do something constructive and get some work done." She told everyone trying to sound more confident than she felt. In all truthfulness Nami wanted nothing more than to run home to Luffy and tell him what a horrible day it was but if she did that then there wouldn't be anyone left in charge and where would that leave everyone else.

XxXxX

Almost the entire kitchen staff had stopped work and vacated into the dining room to watch to news on the T.V above the bar area of the restaurant. Breakfast was still on-going but no one was eating. Everyone, be they customer or staff member, was glued to the large screen.

Sanji stood at the front of the crowd, a few minutes ago one of the waiters had come into the kitchen to tell everyone of the accident at the Trade Center, it was all over the news. When Sanji had come out to see what the fuss was about he found all the customers and most of the cooks and waiters gathered around the bar. On screen one of the Twin Towers had dark smoke clouds rising from it and what looked like a large gash in its side.

"What a horrible thing to happen." An older woman said she was standing behind Sanji's shoulder. There were a few murmurs of agreement but mostly silence reigned in the stylish restaurant.

Today was going to be slow for business with that going on so close by. It was the only thought Sanji could think as he stared at the screen, more an automatic response than anything. After all, this restaurant, he had just opened a few weeks ago was only a few blocks from the two towers.

The young blonde haired chef had lived in New York his whole life but had never seen anything like this before, except in movies. Then something happened on screen that Sanji wasn't even sure he saw correctly. He heard a woman in the back scream and the old lady just behind him had to be led away to a chair.

Sanji had to do a double take on the screen and then he looked once again. His lit cigarette had fallen from his gaping mouth unnoticed as he could do nothing but look on in shocked horror. Even the news people seemed to be in shock as they stumbled trying to find words to explain what it was the world was seeing. The news camera had been fixed on the North tower of the Trade Centers in a mid-way shot then suddenly out of the blue another plane entered the scene from off camera and slammed, with every intent and purpose, into the South Tower. It exploded in a raging fireball spewing smoke and debris out into the air where it joined with the smoke and debris from the North Tower.

"Wh…what's going on?" A woman shrieked.

Out of the corner of his eye Sanji saw a man, probably her boyfriend or husband, try and calm the hysterical woman. This couldn't possibly be an accident. "What are those people gonna do? They're trapped aren't they? How are they gonna get outta there?" One of the younger chefs asked. He was only a year or two older than Sanji himself. His glazed over eyes let the blonde know even if he did answer, the young man most likely wouldn't hear him anyway. The thought that maybe the guy was going into shock entered the cook's mind but he didn't move to do anything about it.

XxXxX

Luffy was in the living room, he had moved in there to watch the news on the big screen. His egg and bacon sandwich still lay on the hardwood floor mixed in with his broken plate but he didn't notice. His eyes were wide in a stunned silence as he stared unmoving at the big screen T.V.

Another plane had crashed straight into the South Tower not even ten minutes from the first crashing into the North Tower. His legs felt like jelly, there was a sound like buzzing in his ears it was drowning out all other noise. He didn't hear the news anchor, he didn't hear the sirens on the T.V, he didn't even hear himself as he whispered Nami's name. The only thing that mattered in the world was the raging fire consuming floor after floor of the skyscraper Nami worked in. That was Nami's building, she was there, in that place.

He didn't know how long he stood rooted in that spot or what it was that finally pulled him out of it but after a while Luffy was able to stumble over to the couch and fall onto it, all the strength seeming to leave his body. The camera was glued to both towers, a close up shot of Building 2 showed flames spreading through several floors. The newsman's voice faded back into existence but Luffy didn't care it was all stuff he could see for himself. The rest of the world came back into focus with the ringing of his cell phone Luffy leaped up and all but dived for his phone that was on the counter.

"Nami!" He just about yelled into the receiver. He hung his head and sighed in disappointment when he heard Nojiko's voice on the other end.

"So, I take it you haven't heard from her either?" Nojiko worriedly asked her future brother-in-law.

Luffy weakly slid back down on the couch. "No, I haven't heard from her all morning. She…She's in there Nojiko, somewhere…" The young man rubbed his hand over his face not being able to take his eyes off the T.V screen.

He heard Nojiko sigh. "I know Luffy but she's probably alright. The news said that the plane hit the offices above hers, so she isn't trapped by the fire. It'll be alright Nami's strong. She knows how to take care of herself in tough situations. I should know, right?" It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself and Luffy at the same time.

Luffy had been nodding absently at Nojiko's words even though the older woman couldn't see him. When she was done speaking he sat there silently for a minute. "Yeah." It was the only thing that made sense, which could make it past his jumbled up thoughts.

"Listen Luffy, I'll be over there in a little while ok. I have to pick up Bellemere and we'll be over there alright so just… just sit tight." Nojiko told him trying to cover the break in her voice. She hung up the phone leaving Luffy to stare, once again, at the horrid images on screen.

XxXxX

9:10 a.m.

The lobby of tower number 2 of the World Trade Center was noisy and crowed. Firefighters and cops from all over the city were gathered in one of two places, the North or the South towers. Both the police and firemen's communication center was set up in basically the same place. Commanders on both sides were having some trouble with the radios and no one knew who was really in charge of this operation.

It was all a confusing mess in Ace's opinion. The rookie firefighter stood next to one of his senior officers, a large blue haired man with stars tattooed on his arms. "Hey Franky, you ever seen something like this before?"

"I was here when that plane crashed into the towers a while ago and with that bomb exploding way back but… no, I ain't never seen anything like this." The older man said as he stared around at all the chaos. Then a grey haired old man called the big guy over and Franky walked off.

Ace had only just become a New York City firefighter and had only been with 'Franky's Firehouse', as it was called by the guys around the station, for around five months. His biggest fire had been a truck whose engine had ignited the week before. Needless to say he didn't have a lot of experience under his belt. Franky's place was taken by two of the younger members of the company, Marco and Kaku.

Marco had been in the game for about six years now and was a real easy going kinda guy. Kaku was the last 'new guy' before Ace had shown up, only being there a year and a half. He had a way of speaking that reminded Ace of talking to an old man. They were both good guys and had helped show Ace the ropes around the station.

"So Ace, you ready to see some real action?" Marco asked with a lazy grin. The black haired young man nodded with a serious look on his freckled face.

"Yes, it will be much different than a simple car fire or burning trashcan." Kaku added picking up on the game.

Ace didn't show his nervousness even though he was nearly trembling in apprehension. "Don't worry about me. You two should just try and keep up."

Across the lobby two police officers stood back and waited for orders. One was an older man, a veteran of the force, already on his twenty year mark. Captain Smoker was an imposing figure with his almost never ending scowl and dark eyes. He was the department's most decorated officer, a shoe-in for Police Commander one day.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was Officer Tashigi, a young rookie. She hadn't been with the department but only a few months and had already established herself as a naive klutz that was too much trouble to ever handle anything serious. Her black hair was cut short and she had on red rimmed glasses, looking every inch a librarian that Smoker looked a cop. However, the young woman wasn't a librarian. She had been placed directly under Captain Smoker. If he couldn't straighten her out then no one could.

"Captain Smoker, what's going on here, do you really think we are being attacked deliberately?" The young woman asked worriedly. Unlike most every other policeman or firefighter these two had been able to overhear some reports from outside the immediate area, though as of right now it was only rumor.

The grey haired captain glanced down at the girl with an expressionless face. "It certainly does seem that way doesn't it, two planes, these two towers. It can't be coincidence."

Tashigi only nodded wordlessly, she had never been this scared and nervous in her whole life. Suddenly the man beside her stood straighter from his position leaning against the wall and Tashigi noticed one of the police commanders coming toward them.

"Hey Franky, what's the word, are we going up soon?" Ace asked as he saw the blue haired fireman walk over to the little group that was standing by a pillar. Marco and Kaku perked up and waited for the big man's answer.

Franky smiled grimly. "Yeah we're goin' now. I've already rounded up the other guys so grab your gear. Hope your all feelin' super today, it's gonna be a some climb." The senior fireman waited and then led the other three back towards the stairs.

Smoker looked down at the young woman before him. She was a good cop, in a young, eager to please kinda way, and a bit overenthusiastic too. "Listen Tashigi, this isn't a field trip, you have to stay on your guard, even if it is only directing traffic down in the mall. Those people are more than likely going to be terrified when they come down and they're looking at us to help them."

"Yes sir, I understand, I won't let you down." The young woman gave her commanding officer a sharp mock salute which he only gave her a hopeless sigh. That girl would never change. Smoker thought, in all honesty, his young protégé was too innocent to make a good cop.

The orders had finally come down from whoever was running this chaotic mess. Tashigi was to be placed down in the mall under the towers, helping to point evacuees towards the exit. While Smoker was to head upstairs and help the search teams with trying to find injured or trapped people in the higher floors. That would relieve the firemen from that duty so they could actually go up and fight the blaze consuming the building.

XxXxX

Nami woke up to the sounds of what could have passed for a nightmare that had slipped into reality. The voices of screaming, panicking, people reached her ears from somewhere. She shakily got to her feet and placed a hand to her aching head, the pain was killing her.

Leaning against a desk Nami tried to stop her vision from making the room spin. She pulled her hand away from her throbbing head to see if anyone else was in the office still and felt something wet and sticky on her fingers. The young woman looked down to see that her hand was covered in blood. Feeling slightly dizzy still Nami reached up again and winced when her fingers brushed over a large gash on her forehead.

"Wh…what happened…?" Nami muttered stumbling over to a broken out window. Looking outside she gasped seeing papers and glowing embers float past the window like some kind of sick parade confetti. From outside she could hear the roar of flames and a constant background noise of people's terrified screams.

Then it hit her like a train. She remembered that there had been an explosion somewhere above them that felt like the whole building was going to shake apart. She had been trying to reassure Vivi when it hit and parts of the ceiling had collapsed on top of them and she had blacked out. Wait…Vivi!

Nami turned away from the window and ran over to where she had woken up. The young blue haired secretary was still unconscious laying a few feet away. Nami quickly checked her over and found that she was still alive but it was easy to see that there was no way Nami was going to be able to get her out of there in this state. Then a sound of something shifting came from behind and Nami whirled around, too fast as she wobbled on her feet again, to see that Lola was making her way over.

The older office worker seemed to have a limp as she pushed past some fallen debris to get to the younger women. "Nami, are you alright, it looks like you took a pretty nasty hit. Vivi still alive there?" She panted when she reached them.

Nami nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm ok. It's just a cut but we need help to get Vivi out… and you."

Nami noticed that Lola's ankle was swollen when she sat on the ground to catch her breath. The elevators probably weren't working, it was too dangerous anyway, and there was no way Lola was going to make it down seventy- one flights of stairs. The pink haired old woman seemed to know this. "You go ahead girlie." She waved Nami away when the younger woman refused to move. "I'll stay here with Vivi so she's not alone. The firefighters should be here soon, with something this big they'll probably have every station in the city coming here."

The orange haired young woman hesitated still. After a minute Nami looked down at her unconscious friend then up at Lola, she had tears in her eyes. "Stay safe, the both of you." Nami choked out throwing her arms around her old mentor and friend. Then she stood up and on shaky legs hurried from the room.

When Nami got out into the stairwell she wasn't surprised to see a mass of people crowded into the space. Some were crying, some looked to be in a state of shock, others were injured or helping the injured as everyone pushed down the flights of stairs as fast as they could go. And of course, there were the firefighters who were going the opposite direction, up the stairs.

=O=O=O=

Alright that's chapter 2. As always reviews welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

"I know we're going to die. Some of us are going to do something about it."

~call made from a passenger on Flight 93~

Disclaimer: Don't own

-  
Why We Can't Forget  
Chapter Three  
-

September 11  
9:34 a.m.

The doorbell rang. Then rang again. Luffy ignored it. Then there was a heavy pounding on the door. Luffy ignored that too. So far he had gotten calls from his Grandfather's old friend, and the woman who had helped raise him and Ace, Dadan. Makino, who helped run the bar with Sabo. And, Nami's adopted uncle Genzo, who was a retired police officer. He didn't think he could handle reassuring anymore relatives or friends when he barely felt any reassurance himself.

The young man heard the door open and a familiar voice call out. "Yo, Luffy, are you here?" A red haired man poked his head into the living room. He had three scars across his left eye and despite the situation smiled in relief at finding his young friend. Shanks had been called a few minutes ago by Nami's mother, Bellemere. She was an old friend of his from way back but he was surprised to hear from her on this day. She had asked Shanks to stay with Luffy until they got there since Nojiko had been worried about his mental state ever since she talked with him. Since he and Luffy were really close anyway Shanks had no problems with this.

Luffy was sitting in the same spot he had collapsed into earlier that morning, he sat glued to the T.V, he didn't even look up at the entrance of his old friend. Finally he looked over when Shanks sat next to him on the couch and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Shanks… what're you…"

"Bellemere gave me a ring, said you might need some company." The red haired man said, his small smile turning into a concerned frown.

Luffy just nodded with a blank look on his face. "The news guys said practically the whole island is shut down. The roads are blocked, the trains aren't running, there's no way to get in."

Shanks didn't know what to say to that. He had known Nami for awhile but he didn't know if she would make it through or not, and he didn't want to lie so the older man decided to stay silent for now. He and Luffy continued to watch the news in a tense anticipation, waiting to see what would happen next.

The pair didn't have to wait long. Just a few minutes after Shanks walked into the house the scenes of the New York skyline were replaced with the newsroom again. "We are getting reports of what appears to be another attack." The news anchor was saying in a harried kind of tone. "We have reports that the Pentagon, just a few minutes ago, was crashed into. Yes, you heard me right, the Pentagon has been hit." Then the scene changed again and Luffy and Shanks were faced with pictures of new devastation. There were emergency vehicles already at the site. Luffy could see people of all kinds running here and there. Some were in military uniform, some business suits, and some firefighter, EMT, and police uniforms. "What you are seeing now is one side of the Pentagon building..."

Luffy could only gape at the television screen, picking up some detail from the newsman, but ultimately he just sat back on the couch and stared. "Gramps..."

Shanks was just as shocked as Luffy. He knew Garp pretty well but their relationship couldn't be described as friendly. The red haired man looked over at his younger friend, now picking up on some of Nojiko's worry. Luffy wasn't saying anything. That wasn't like him. Usually he was the one to jump up first and scream or fight or whatever action the occasion called for. Then again who was he going to fight, who could've done something like this?

XxXxX

Ace and his company were on the eighteenth floor, the going was slow and tedious. Their gear was easily a hundred pounds and they had to climb single file through the stairwell because of the endless stream of office workers and Trade Center staff that were coming down. They had lost Kaku back on the twelfth floor. He had caught hold of a woman who had tripped on the stairs. She was fairly heavyset and looked like she couldn't even make it down the next two flights. He decided to carry her down himself when it looked like there wasn't anyone else around who was capable of doing it.

One of the bad things about all this climbing was it gave one plenty of time to think. That's what Ace found himself doing on the way up. He thought about Luffy and his Gramps, they were the only family he had. He chuckled quietly to himself, scratch that, Nami could now be added to the list. His soon to be sister-in-law was certainly the brave one, wanting to deal with Luffy for the rest of her life. Come to think of it, didn't she say that she worked in this building? Ace suddenly looked around at the faces passing him in the stairs searching for that familiar orange hair. Of course she could have passed him already, she probably wouldn't recognize him in all his gear, and he hadn't been looking for her.

Suddenly a young woman coming into the stairwell from the twenty-first floor all but launched herself at Franky, who was leading the team of firefighters. "Please, you have to help me. My friend is back there," she pointed in the direction she had come from, "she can't make it down the stairs. She's in a wheelchair and I can't get anyone to stop and help her. Please."

The woman looked to be in near panic as Franky pulled her hands from his arms but he didn't let them go. Still holding the woman's hands he turned to the men behind him. "You guys go on ahead. I'll take care of this lady and her friend and be back up with Kaku in no time."

Marco nodded with Franky gone it looked like he was the one left in charge. "Alright Franky, we'll meet you guys up there." With that the blue haired man followed the young woman and the rest of the company continued to climb upwards.

XxXxX

9:40 a.m.

After seventy-one flights of stairs and following hundreds of people Nami was finally free to step out in the open. The crowd had to go through the mall that spread out under the Twin Towers because the lobby was filled with firefighters and cops and from what she had seen the plaza outside was littered with debris. She wondered if Ace was down there or maybe in the North Tower, there was no question he was here somewhere. Nami was also worried about Vivi and Lola, when she entered the crowded stairwell she had stopped the first firefighter she saw and told him. He said that he'd take care of them and she should continue down.

Looking around she saw that the evacuees from both towers were being split into groups: the seriously injured were being loaded into ambulances, the ones with superficial wounds were being directed into a nearby store, and the others were being pointed further down the street.

Nami turned to look up at the two smoking towers and immediately wished she hadn't as she noticed a tiny figure jump from one of the higher windows. Like watching a horrible car accident, in morbid fascination, she watched the body freefall and only turned away when he disappeared behind a building. With a shudder Nami started walking again passing up the medical line, her head was still pounding painfully but it had stopped bleeding around the twentieth floor, all she wanted was to get back to Luffy and collapse into his arms.

She had discarded her high heeled shoes around the fifty-eighth floor they were definitely not designed for climbing stairs. So now barefoot, Nami started walking, not really knowing how she was going to get home. She hadn't gone more than a few yards down the street when she first picked up on the noise. She actually heard it before she felt it as the sound of something crashing behind her started lightly at first then very quickly turned into a deafening roar. The ground beneath her feet shook like a mini earthquake. Nami turned just in time to see the South Tower, the building she had just been inside, collapse in on itself.

"Oh my God." Was all that managed to make it out of her mouth before a huge wall of dust surged over everything in its path. People, buildings, cars, they all disappeared.

The force of the wind from the collapse made Nami stagger sideways. She couldn't see anything, her eyes were closed against the dust. Even if they weren't the cloud was so thick that it instantly turned the sunny day black as pitch. With one hand she covered her mouth and the other felt around in front of her as she stumbled forward. Tripping over the curb Nami landed on her hands and knees and decided it was safer to stay there.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." Nami continued to repeat over and over again as she choked on the blowing dust. Tears leaked out from under her lashes and made dirty trails down her cheeks. After a while she could feel the dust settle somewhat but she still didn't move from her spot.

A young man walked out into the dust and debris covered street along with a few others. They had been in the temporary medical facilities set up in the store. What he saw was like something out of a dream. Everything was covered in the same gray dust, it was piled up like snow in winter, on cars and trees even buildings were coated with the stuff. It hung in the air making it hard to breathe and the young man's eyes watered. The sun cast a weird light through the hanging dust giving the outside world an even weirder look.

He was just a young med student but a few in his class had come down here to help the injured evacuees. Seeing his friends begin helping people up he started to do the same. Across the street he noticed a young woman kneeling on the ground. He couldn't tell anything about her because she was hunched over on her hands and knees and she was colored grey from head to feet, which he noticed were missing shoes.

A pair of strong hands gripped Nami's shoulders making her gasp and look up. "Ma'am, are you alright?" A man a few years younger than herself was standing over her looking concerned. His short light brown hair ruffled in the breeze and his brown eyes showed worry.

"Yes…" Nami said automatically then looked down at the dust blowing around in the slight breeze. "No…" She looked back up at the young man above her. "I don't know anymore…" Her tearful brown eyes stared at the scene around them, at the ashy gray world she was now in.

"My name's Tony Chopper." The young man introduced himself. Nami turned back to him because looking at this young man was infinitely better than looking at anything else around them. "I'm a junior medical student that was here helping take care of people." He held out a hand which Nami gratefully accepted and he helped her to her feet. "That looks like a really bad gash there, I can take care of it for you," he said indicating her forehead, then he looked to her bare feet, "and maybe get you some shoes."

XxXxX

One man was dead already, his throat slashed open with a box cutter of all things. The rest of the passengers and crew had been shuffled to the back of the plane. The cockpit crew was most likely dead as well. The one man these hijackers left behind to guard them was looking pretty nervous, constantly shifting the small blade from one hand to the other. Zoro smiled at this, he should be nervous.

Thanks to a few calls to loved ones, the people aboard Flight 93 were very well aware that this was not a catch and release kind of operation. There were no demands to be met, there were no plans for an exchange, it was a suicide mission. They all knew what had happened with the Trade Centers and just recently with the Pentagon. In an unanimous decision every person had agreed they were not going to let that happen a fourth time.

Zoro looked around the plane. Right now people were making some last minute attack plans and calls to family. The green haired man pulled out his cell phone. He supposed he should do the same. Dialing a number he waited but only got an answering machine. He sighed of course she wouldn't be there. "Hey, Kuina, it's me. I know I was supposed to be home today but with everything that's gone on this morning I don't see that happening." Zoro sighed into the phone hopefully what he was about to say wouldn't be necessary to listen to later. "Kuina, listen, I see no reason to pussy foot around this. You'll find out later anyway. My plane has been hijacked. We all know about what happened with the other planes and we're not gonna let it happen again. You know me, right, can't just sit on my ass and do nothing in a situation like this." Zoro paused smiling grimly into the receiver of the phone. "I hate getting all mushy and stuff like this but just in case… you are the best friend I ever had and I'm sorry about what I did and said last time I was home. I'll see ya later." Zoro hurriedly hung up the phone with a click. He never was good with touching, tearful good-byes.

"Excuse me a moment sir." A skinny older man stood in front of Zoro. He had a large black afro and his eyes were covered in small dark glasses and he had a black cane that was topped with a silver skull. All in all it made for a really weird look for the old guy. "My name is Brook and I was wondering if I may borrow the use of your phone?"

The younger green haired man smiled and pulled the cell phone out of his pocket again handing it over to Brook. He got up out of his seat. "Take as long as you want old man." Then he headed over to the small group next to the kitchen, he assumed they were the main planners for this little operation. There were two stewardesses and a few men talking together but they stopped as Zoro approached. "So lady," he directed to one of the women, "you got any blades in that kitchen? I've got a plan to take that little bastard over there down easy."

XxXxX

Nojiko was crying and Bellemere looked close to shock. Shanks sat next to his old friend but had no comforting words to say to her. Honestly he was in a state of shock himself. Luffy had gotten up to go to the kitchen after it happened, he hadn't been seen since.

The mother and daughter had arrived just a few minutes before the tower fell. All four had been watching when the cameraman on the ground had gotten the shot of Tower 2 as it collapsed and consequently been overtaken by the billowing dark cloud. The scene had then switched over to a sky shot showing the part of the city around the World Trade Center as it was taken over by the resulting dust cloud.

"All those people. Wh…what if Nami was in there? She c…could have been…" Nojiko stammered through her tears. A noise from her adopted mother made the teal haired young woman look over.

"Don't even think it Nojiko." Bellemere growled as she glared daggers at the television screen as if daring the news anchor to say her daughter was dead. A cigarette was clenched tightly between her teeth. "I raised both you girls to be strong and smart. Nami wouldn't have stayed in that building."

Shanks shared a look with Nojiko, who was still sniffling but had stopped crying. "Bellemere, listen, we all know how tough Nami is but it might not be up to her. Something could have happened for all we know." The red haired man tried to get the older woman to prepare herself but she wouldn't have any of it.

Luffy listened to the conversation the three were having from the kitchen. He was leaning against the counter and had the little post-it note from Nami clutched tightly in his fist. "Gramps, Ace, Nami, they're the only family I have. Without them I don't have anything. What'll I do if they're gone?"

Clenching his teeth together he buried his face in his hands fighting back the tears. Luffy felt the lowest he had ever felt in his life right at this moment. If his grandpa was dead, Luffy was sure he would feel sad, but he'd get over it. If Ace died, he knew without a doubt the news would break his heart, but eventually he'd get over it. If Nami was gone there would be no sadness or depression, there would be no getting over anything, because Luffy knew in his heart that if Nami died there was no way he could live without her.

Walking over to the sink the young man leaned over to splash some cold water on his face, hoping to wash these thoughts from his mind. Turning the water off Luffy stayed bent over the sink resting his elbows on the countertop. He knew what Nami would do in this situation he had seen her do it before, though he had never done it himself.

"God, uh, it's me, Luffy. I don't really know what I'm doin' here so I hope you're up there listening. I know I never really talked to ya before but Nami does it all the time and she said it's easy. I need some help, my family is in trouble. Nami said you can see everything that goes on, so you probably already know what's goin' on down here. I think a lot of people are asking ya the same thing today but if it's ok to add one more to that list, please let everyone be alright."

Luffy looked out of the window above the kitchen sink, he could see the beautiful bright blue sky and the occasional puffy white cloud. He didn't know if God was really there or if He heard him but as Luffy stood by the sink he could feel a weight lift from his shoulders. The heavy feeling that had grown since early this morning when he watched the first plane hit wasn't totally gone but it was much more bearable.

With a determined nod the young man turned to head back into the living room. Walking out of the kitchen he almost bumped into Nojiko, who was standing just outside the kitchen door. She was leaning against the wall with her head bowed. Luffy stopped and watched her for a minute and then she looked up at him with a teary eyed smile.

"Thanks, Luffy, for reminding me." She said to him as she straightened up and turned around to go back to join the others in front of the T.V. Luffy just looked confused.

XxXxX

It took nearly forty minutes for Chopper, as the young man liked to be called, to get the supplies he needed to tend to Nami. The young woman used this time to get cleaned up some and borrowed a pair of tennis shoes from another young med student that was helping Chopper. The blonde haired woman had introduced herself as Kaya and while Nami was waiting the two struck up a conversation, each woman trying to not think about the events of the day.

Finally though Chopper appeared with sterilized supplies and a bottle of Tylenol, which was the only pain meds they were allowed to give out. After apologizing, it only took a few minutes for the young man to stitch her up and hand over the pain medicine. Chopper gave some basic instructions dealing with the stitches, about when they should come out and stuff, before being pulled away to help someone else.

Leaving the makeshift clinic behind Nami started walking up the street again. At first it seemed eerily devoid of life aside from an occasional emergency worker and the gray duty ash that covered everything made the world look even more surreal. As she got a little bit further from the Trade Center though more and more people were gathered together, talking or helping each other out, and mostly everyone was covered in gray just adding to the surreal feeling Nami had.

Nami had already gone a few blocks when the people around her started yelling and pointing, some even started running. With an extreme case of déjà vu she also turned around to look behind her and for the second time that day cursed her curiosity.

Tower 1, the North Tower, was collapsing following in the footsteps of its brother. Nami, already suspecting what was gonna come next, turned and started running down the street. A few dozen other people had the same idea. "Thank you Kaya." Nami silently thanked the young woman for the shoes as she tried to outrun the oncoming dust cloud. Even though Nami was in pretty good shape the huge wall of dust and smoke was catching up far too easily. Soon enough the orange haired young woman was once more enveloped in a dark smothering cloud of dust and debris.

The force of the wind wasn't so bad now, being a few blocks away, but the cloud was still as dark and suffocating as the last one. Blindly stumbling in the choking dust Nami tried to find some way out of it. She didn't even think that the tower's collapse meant everyone inside had just been crushed. She didn't think about the planes from earlier crashing and exploding killing their passengers and crew instantly. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was going to happen after this. All the orange haired woman allowed herself to think about was this moment now and only what was in front of her, in other words, getting out of this dust and someplace she could breathe and see.

Suddenly Nami felt someone slam into her side coming from somewhere on the left. Crying out in surprise she took in a lungful of dusty air and immediately started choking on it. Whoever it was pushed her against what felt like a glass panel, maybe a window or door. Thanks to the dust, and the fact that every time she coughed trying to get rid of the stuff in her lungs she only breathed more in, there was no way she could see what or who had slammed into her.

Well the answer to one of her questions was answered shortly as the surface she was against pushed outwards forcing the unknown someone and Nami to stumble backwards. The door swung open and someone else Nami couldn't get a good look at because of the dust in her eyes stepped out slightly. "Well what are you waiting for, get in here." He was definitely a man. She felt the person who had run into her stand up as the other guy reached out to help her on her feet. Coughing and half blinded Nami was led forward by the stranger and into what looked like a restaurant. At least that's what Nami made out of it, her blurry vision picking out a number of tables and chairs.

"I was getting worried about you Ussop, I thought you would come running over here a lot earlier." The one that was still holding Nami's hand said in a teasing tone. The one that had run into her, obviously this guy named Ussop, only offered a quiet "shut up" in his defense as he coughed and sputtered.

"Th…thank you for letting us in." Nami was still coughing but was very grateful for the clean air inside this place. She tried to wipe the dust and grime from her face but it wasn't working very well as her hands were just as dirty as the rest of her. She heard one of the guys let out a chuckle.

The young woman let out a startled gasp as she felt a cool wet cloth start wiping at her face. "Sorry about that and it's not a problem, my lady. With everything that's happened today there isn't anyone who doesn't need some help. Anyway I was expecting this fraidy cat here to come crashing in eventually, didn't know he'd bring a friend though." He finished wiping off her face and stood back. "There we go. Much better, right?"

"He's not a friend, I don't even know him, he just ran into me outside."

Nami said opening her eyes and thankfully was able to see clearly again. She looked over at her two 'saviors'. One was covered in the dust from outside and obviously the one who had pushed her over here. His most outstanding features were his really long nose and bushy black hair. The other was a very clean cut kinda guy, Nami could tell, his short blonde hair covered one eye and the other was topped by a very curly eyebrow. "Yeah, it's much better. Thank you Mr…"

The blonde was glaring at his friend but immediately broke off to look back at her. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, my name is Sanji and I own this restaurant. The one with horrible manners over there is Ussop." He said with an apologetic bow.

"Hey what do you mean horrible manners, I saved her didn't I?" Ussop pouted over on the side.

Sanji glared again. "Yeah if that's what you want to call tackling a pretty lady into my door."

Nami smiled at the two as Ussop and Sanji got into an argument over the curly haired boy's manners towards her. Even with all that was going on out in the streets she couldn't help it. In here it seemed, for the moment at least, everything from the outside stayed on the outside.

XxXxX

11:34 a.m.

Garp was standing with a few other officers from the different branches of the military, they were under a shady tree that stood far enough away from the media circus so that they wouldn't be bothered yet close enough to the Pentagon to watch what was going on. A part of the damaged section had already caved in but other than that the structure appeared sound.

The little group was going over the accountability lists again to see if there was anyone still missing. The 'confirmed dead' list was short, thankfully, but still there were names on it. After a few minutes of going back and forth the group split up to tend to their people and give out orders.

Garp was met by Robin as he crossed the grass lawn. She had gotten some coffee from somewhere and handed it to him. "I thought I told you to go home Ms. Nico." He said taking the cup anyway. "You should get some rest and tend to that hand."

The black haired woman had been lucky, she hadn't been in the section that the plane hit directly, but the explosion and initial collapse of the wall had her trapped for some time before rescuers dug her out. She had escaped with only minor scrapes and bruises and her hand had been burned pretty good when she tried to push away a burning piece of wood.

Robin held up her bandaged hand. "It's only a slight burn, Vice Admiral, and I'm sure I can be of much more help here that sitting in my apartment. Have you tried to call Luffy back?" She asked with a concerned frown.

"No." He answered curtly. Garp had tried earlier to call his grandson but the phone had been busy and there hadn't been time lately to try and call again.

The black haired woman held out her own phone, which had amazingly been undamaged, and handed it over to the old man. "You have some time now Vice Admiral."

XxXxX

4:00 p.m.

It was now mid-afternoon and everything seemed to be over. After the strike at the Pentagon there seemed to be no more attacks, not counting Flight 93 that had been hijacked but had gone down before attacking anything. Shanks, Bellemere, Nojiko, and Luffy were just sitting in the living room still glued to the news hoping to hear something that would let them know about Nami.

There was continuous news coverage of New York City and the Pentagon and the crash site of Flight 93, though what exactly happened there was still being investigated. The mayor of New York had come on reassuring people about their safety and urging them to stay home. The president had come on earlier and offered some much needed reassurance that this was not going to go unpunished. Other official people had held meetings and press conferences throughout the afternoon. These mixed in with the news showing despondent New York citizens who seemed to be in a collective state of shock. One face looked just like another, concerned, fearful, and angry.

Bellemere had taken to rolling Luffy's cell phone around in her hand nervously. Flipping it open then closed again. There was a small pile of cigarettes in front of her showing just how apprehensive she was as if no one knew anyway.

Nojiko, after her breakdown when the South Tower fell, was pretty calm considering the circumstances. She didn't cry when the North Tower followed a few minutes later, she, along with the rest of the room just stared in silent shock. Now she was in the kitchen with Shanks making the small group some snacks since no one had even suggested they eat lunch earlier this afternoon, really Nojiko wasn't even sure anyone would eat now, but it was something to keep her mind and hands occupied.

Luffy was sitting beside the older maroon haired woman that was playing with his phone. He tried to stay calm and collected but it was quickly failing. He had finally heard from his Grandpa just around noon but there had been no word of Nami the entire day. Luffy heard from the news guy that phone service had been cut off for the entire Manhattan area, so he knew she couldn't call on her phone.

He had heard statistics and assumptions about the number of dead and he found the dark part of his mind wondering if Nami was one of them. Luffy quickly shook this thought away. It wouldn't do to start thinking like that. There had also been no word from Ace but Luffy knew he was probably too busy at 'Ground Zero' as the former site of the Twin Towers had been dubbed.

The doorbell rang and then there was a knock. Luffy sighed and stood up figuring it must be a neighbor or something since a few people from across the street had already come by to see how he was doing. 'Yeah he was feeling just peachy keen today.' The young man walked over to the front door and opened it, who had locked the door anyway, he was suddenly jumped on by the person standing outside.

Luffy stood there for a moment, his mind trying to process that Nami was currently trying to crush his rib cage. "N…Nami?" He stared down at the woman in wide eyed astonishment.

She was filthy, her clothes were ruined, she was exhausted, and both her feet and head were killing her. But, as Nami looked up into Luffy's surprised face, she laughed. She didn't even bother to notice as the tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Luffy slowly started to smile and then laughed with her as he brought his hands up to gently wipe away the glistening tears from her eyes. He fought back tears of his own as he suddenly pulled Nami into his chest wrapping his strong arms around her, determined not to let go. Luffy looked up towards the sky with a relieved smile and nodded his head in a silent 'Thanks'.

Nami buried her face into Luffy's shoulder, her quiet laughter turning into heart wrenching sobs that shook through her entire body. She felt as Luffy tightened his hold around her waist and she cried harder. Finally she was back home. The one place Nami had been wanting to get back to all day, through everything that had happened, and now she was in his arms again. For the first time since this horrible day started Nami felt completely safe.

=O=O=O=

Chapter 3 done. Only the epilogue left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Extravagant Spirits**

Without their fierce devotion  
We are fragile and forlorn,  
Stumbling briefly, among the stars.

We and our futures belong to them  
Exquisitely, our beliefs and our  
Breaths are made tangible in their love.

By their extravagant spirits, they draw us  
From the safe borders  
And into the center of the center ring  
There they urge dance upon our  
Leaden feet  
And to our sullen hearts,  
Bright laughter.

Not the crowd's roar nor the gasped  
Breath of the timorous can stay their mission.

There is no moderation in their nature.  
They spit upon their fingers  
To test the wind of history,  
They slip into our bonds and steal us  
Away from the slavery of cowardice.

They skin back their thin lips over fanged teeth and  
Rocks in hand, in our presence  
Face down our Goliath.

These mothers, fathers, pastors and priests,  
These Rabbis, Imams and gurus,  
Teach us by their valor and mold us with their courage.

Without their fierce devotion  
We are only forlorn and only fragile  
Stumbling briefly, among the stars.

~Maya Angelou~

Disclaimer: OP isn't mine

-  
Why We Can't Forget  
EPILOUGE  
-

-One Year Later-

In an empty field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania there was a small group of people. Well actually the gathering was fairly large but compared to some of the other memorials it wasn't very big. Off to the side of the field near the road, there was a homemade memorial site with cards and flowers and such piled up. There were a few news cameras covering their small gathering but other than that not much media attention.

There were no big politicians or fancy speeches to sit through. That all happened in Washington or New York. It was, for the most part, family and friends of the passengers and crew on Flight 93 or 'the flight that fought back' as some people called it.

Most of the mourners there were with family or close friends and some had traveled all the way across country to be here for this day. Among them stood a young woman, her short black hair was pulled back and out of her face. In her arms she held a small child that looked to be around a year or so old. Two men stood next to her looking around quietly in respect.

The three of them had driven all the way from California. All three felt that it wouldn't be right to fly here, not for this occasion. The little baby boy in the young woman's arms began to whine, no doubt getting tired and hungry. She brushed a hand through the boy's short green hair trying to calm him down and he turned to silently pout at her.

Kuina turned to one of the men beside her. He had dark hair and a tattoo on his face. "Johnny, would you go to the car and get his bag?" She asked quietly so as not to disturb anyone else around her. The tattooed guy nodded and quickly began weaving his way through the small crowd to get the needed object.

The black haired woman frowned softly, closing her eyes, it was almost like she could hear Zoro's voice again. She brought the little child closer to herself. Then his voice changed and it sounded like the message he had left her, this day a year ago.

Her and a friend had been watching the news broadcasts together at her father's house and she hadn't arrived home until late in the afternoon. Of course she had heard the news of the plane that had crashed in a field but she had no clue Zoro was one of the people on that plane. When she had played the man's message that afternoon she had felt her heart tear in two. A normal person wouldn't be able to tell much from Zoro's message, it wasn't all that much to listen to.

You would really have to know the green haired man in order to get his meaning. He had never been one for showing his love for someone, a best friend was about as high as you got on his level. Zoro had only ever called her a 'best friend', everyone else he only called them a friend or at most a good friend.

In his message he had apologized for what he did to her but he didn't need to. She had loved him, still did, and it had also brought her a life saver. The small green haired boy in her arms had saved her life. The small child was the reason she made herself move on and live each day.

XxXxX

A young woman with short black hair and red rimmed glasses stood at attention while the police commander stood in front of her and a few other officers from the department that were lucky enough to survive a year ago. Tashigi tried not to fidget but old habits are hard to break. Her uniform was sharp and crisp, nothing out of place. Yet something still felt off. Of course that same feeling had been plaguing her for a year now.

The smell of cigar smoke suddenly came to her, like he was standing there next to her, listening to the police commander talk about the honor and bravery of the fallen.

When Captain Smoker and her had been split up in the lobby of the South Tower, something, she didn't know what, had told her it was going to be the last time she was going to see him. Not wanting to sound like scared little kid she had only given a mock salute to him and run off to do her job. She never suspected that she would be right.

Then the South Tower had collapsed instantly killing hundreds of people, firemen, policemen, and her partner. She had been the one to break the news to his brother, a policeman down in Florida. After that day it always felt as if he was watching over her shoulder, like he was still looking out for her. Tashigi had become almost like a new person, she was still slightly clumsy and naive but she was hardly like she was before. Once she got over that it turned out she was a natural with a gun, she had been happy to find that Smoker had been too.

The police commander finally finished with his speech and the obligatory applause was given and Tashigi filed offstage with the other officers, they were going back to the station to change maybe get a bite to eat and get back to their jobs.

In front of the Pentagon Vice Admiral Garp was in much the same situation as the young police woman from New York. Sitting behind some politician or other, Garp had lost track, in yet another memorial for the September 11 victims. Don't misunderstand, Garp was more than happy to remember the heroes and the victims, and the victims' families, and the rescuers and so on and so forth. But after sitting through so many it was difficult to remember which one you were supposed to even be attending.

Which was why, when the speech was over and Garp with his fellow military officers could exit the stage, he smiled at the dark haired secretary as she handed him a cup of tea and pointed out where he was supposed to be going next.

Garp scowled at the brewed tea, he was always a coffee man, but on his last medical visit the doctor decided tea would be much better than coffee for the old man. "Unless Garp wanted to have a heart attack and keel over". The vice admiral cursed the overpaid doctor and drank the tea Robin had given him.

Luffy better thank him for this, after all, he was only going along with the doctor's orders so that he could help his grandson in the upcoming future. Even though Luffy didn't know it he was going to be looking for all the help he could get pretty soon.

Aside from the coffee ban this past year hadn't seen much change in the old Navy officer. The military itself had changed though which didn't surprise Garp in the slightest. The U.S. Military was an ever changing machine, always adding in new parts, or taking out old ones to make the machine as a whole work even better.

The old man's family life had picked up a bit though, with the marriage of his grandson, and even though the news hadn't made it past a few close friends and family there were rumors of something big fixing to happen in the Monkey family.

XxXxX

In a little fire house situated in the middle of New York City a large blue haired man stood alone in front of nine firemen's helmets, ones that would never be worn again. They were lined up on a shelf above the doorway to the station's living area. Franky bowed his head and said the Fireman's Prayer in respect for his fallen companions.

He was one of the lucky few to survive the collapse of the towers, really it wasn't luck at all, he had been sent angels. There had been stories of some person or other being sent divine intervention in the middle of that nightmare, an angel leading the way. The big man considered himself privileged. He had been sent two angels. When he had gone to help the woman in the wheelchair he could not have known it would be the last time to see Marco, Ace, or any of the other guys again.

The woman who had come seeking help was named Melanie and her friend in the wheelchair was Carol. Franky knew that without them he would be dead alongside everyone else. It had been tough going down all those stairs again even though he had left his gear behind, to be retrieved later on his way back up. On the way across the balcony level looking over the lobby, he had run into Kaku and the young man made a decision that would save his life.

The younger firefighter followed after his senior officer so they could go back upstairs together. Franky huffed as he remembered that he had just been about to hand Carol over to a cop near the escalators going down into the mall when the skyscraper had come crashing down around their heads. He had acted quickly pushing the young policeman down the still moving escalator, using one hand to grab Kaku by the front, and used his body to basically throw them all downstairs.

The policeman then grabbed Carol so the blue haired man could get up and he started running, Kaku and Melanie were right behind and Franky followed last. By some miracle all five of them had come out relatively unscathed.

When they had both made it back to the station hours afterward both men had collapsed in exhaustion, both physical and mental. Franky had been the one to break the news to the few remaining men that had been left to take care of the firehouse.

During the days that followed it had been Franky's duty to tell the families the bad news, it was always the worst part of his job. In the year following there had major changes in the small firehouse. For one Kaku had decided that his efforts could be better suited elsewhere and in a move that surprised anyone who knew him, he joined the military.

Franky hadn't changed nearly as much as his younger friend. In the months following the disaster the big guy was more reserved and quite but he had slowly gotten back to his old self and now was laughing like old times with the new recruits that had joined the station.

Today though, the station was silent, almost everyone else had gone to participate in one of the parades. Franky didn't notice the other man until he stepped up beside him.

The pair of them stood in silence for a minute then Kaku bowed his head and said a silent prayer for his fallen friends. Both survivors seemed to have the same idea of paying their respects without all the fanfare that would have embarrassed their comrades were they alive to see it.

"Come on kid, let's have a drink." Franky said nudging Kaku's shoulder. He nodded toward the living area where the kitchen was. The older man walked underneath the shelf holding the helmets and into the little kitchen of the firehouse. The younger blonde man followed after a minute and at entering he saw Franky already sitting at the table holding a beer. Another bottle was sitting across the table from the big man, apparently waiting for him.

Kaku smiled and lifted his bottle. "What shall we drink to?"

"How about new beginnings and old friends." Franky laughed raising his bottle also to gently knock it into Kaku's.

XxXxX

Luffy was laid out in the grass staring up at the clouds. He was enjoying married life, really it wasn't much different than when he and Nami just lived together. The young man felt his wife lay down next to him on the large blanket they were using and snuggle up to his side.

Central Park was quiet today, Luffy guessed a lot of people were staying home or attending one of the memorials that were going on around the city. Nami hadn't really felt like going to any of those and he didn't really want to stay cooped up in the house, so they had come to the park for a picnic.

Things had changed for Luffy since the stuff that had happened a whole year ago. Obviously being married was a big change in his life. He had also owned up to his responsibility and found a steadier job working as a photographer for a local magazine and he also did his freelance stuff on the side. Though the biggest change in his and Nami's life would come in a few months. The black haired young man fidgeted with the small golden cross necklace Nami had given him for his birthday. He was worried for the future, true it was something he didn't usually do, but now he had a stake in it. He never wanted something like what happened a year ago to happen to anyone again, especially if it meant his children would have to go through it.

He looked over at the orange haired woman next to him, she had her eyes closed, enjoying the sunshine. It had taken a long time for Nami to get over what had happened on that day and after the initial questioning when she had arrived home she hadn't talked about it much. Luffy still remembered clearly her exhausted expression as Shanks pushed Bellemere and Nojiko out the door. She didn't even make it to the bed before she was passed out in his arms.

Nami had changed a lot in the past year also. She was less ambitious than she used to be, which explained the quitting her job and finding one that was far less stressful, even if it wasn't so high profile. It also allowed her to spend more time with him. Which they both enjoyed.

Luffy turned on his side then frowned slightly as the afternoon sun slipped through the leaves overhead lighting up a spot on Nami's forehead. He softly ran his fingers over the small scar above her left eye. It had faded over time and now you wouldn't even notice it, unless you knew what to look for. He was sure his heart skipped a beat every time he thought about how close he had come to losing her. So many others had been lost that day. His brother had been just one among hundreds to disappear beneath the Trade Centers as they fell. Nami's friends from her office had also been lost, Vivi and the old woman, Lola. Though since she hadn't been family it took her longer to find out than it had for him to learn about Ace.

Brown eyes fluttered open at his touch and Nami smiled softly up at her husband, she knew what he was thinking about, he always thought about it when he started tracing her scar. "Luffy," she brought his gaze down to meet hers and grinned teasingly, "what do you think Ace would say if he saw his father get all teary-eyed over a little scratch like that, hm?"

A small smile appeared on Luffy's face, Nami always knew how to get his mind off things it shouldn't be dwelling on. With a chuckle he poked his wife softly in her slightly protruding belly. "He'd probably say 'wow Dad, what a wuss'. Then I'd have to show him how much of a wuss I really am." Nami gave him a look and pulled away slightly as Luffy's smile widened. "Of course then you'd come in and knock us both on our heads."

Nami laughed loudly at his answer. She had meant it as a rhetorical question but Luffy could always get her to laugh at the dumbest things. It still felt odd to be laughing on today of all days when it was supposed to be one of remembrance. But, she supposed that was a sign of returning normalcy.

=O=O=O=

Alright that ends it. Reviews welcome.

Wow got a bit carried away, I think. I meant this as a two-shot but now it's doubled.


End file.
